Allen Smith, a nurse practitioner, needed more than medical training and entrepreneurial spirit to open a primary care practice in Bethlehem. He had to find a doctor to sponsor him. That was easier said than done. Many doctors, it turned out, were prohibited by contractual agreements with the health care networks that employed them. Eventually, Smith did find a willing and able doctor — an hour away in Reading. "I can only tell you that it was more than a challenge to find a collaborating physician," said Smith, whose practice, Novus Adult Care, opened in 2013. Legislation introduced in Harrisburg this month would free Smith and other nurse practitioners in...

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Allen Smith, a nurse practitioner, needed more than medical training and entrepreneurial spirit to open a primary care practice in Bethlehem. He had to find a doctor to sponsor him.
That was easier said than done. Many doctors, it turned out, were...

HARRISBURG — On the eve of her state Supreme Court hearing to try to clear herself from possible criminal charges, Attorney General Kathleen Kane appeared at a budget hearing to ask lawmakers for $97 million to run her agency.
Kane's funding request to...

I spent the last 40 years of my career working on insurance issues in Pennsylvania, both on the public and private side. Including my time spent as general counsel of a large Pennsylvania insurance company and as Insurance Commissioner under Govs. Tom...

I was very concerned to learn that LW Consulting, the company managing Cedarbrook, is not renewing its contract.
I agree with its contention that the Lehigh County Commissioners have been micromanaging Cedarbrook to the detriment of the nursing home....

Three percent of patients hospitalized in Pennsylvania in fiscal 2014 were "super-utilizers" — people admitted five or more times in a year, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
Those 21,308...

The number of people signing up for health insurance surged as the deadline approached on the second open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act.
More than 11.4 million consumers nationwide got insurance through either the federal marketplace or...

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf's administration says it is simplifying the benefits packages for adult Medicaid recipients and undoing what advocates for the poor had called a severe cutback for some adults under a plan advocated by former Gov. Tom...

The pressure is on to sign up for health insurance.
More than 7.5 million consumers nationwide have gotten insurance through federal marketplaces during the first two and a half months of the second open enrollment period under the Affordable Care...

For two years, the Obama administration dramatically raised Medicaid reimbursements for primary care physicians in hopes that they would see more poor patients. The idea was that states would jump in to continue at least part of the payments.
Few did,...

More than 7 million consumers nationwide have gotten insurance through federal marketplaces during the first two months of the second open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act.
That includes 422,000 Pennsylvanians who either selected a plan or...

The head of human resources for the state of Maryland is Gov.-elect Tom Wolf's pick to be Human Services secretary, and a former northeastern Pennsylvania hospital official is his choice for secretary of the state Department of Health, Wolf said...

HARRISBURG — A federal judge today denied a motion for an injunction over changes to Medicaid benefits, meaning the state can proceed with a planned Medicaid overhaul set to take effect Thursday.Community Legal Services of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit...

– With some 600,000 Pennsylvanians newly eligible for the state's expanding Medicaid program, the doctors who provide care through that program for low-income residents are getting some bad news: their fees are going down.Those payments were hiked two...

WINTER BIRD HIKE
1 Pack your binoculars and head out to Trout Creek Park near Dixon Street in Allentown, for a winter bird hike starting at 10 a.m. Jan. 18.
You'll walk along the banks of the creek looking for birds and their winter shelters....

What does the future hold for the controversial Affordable Care Act now that the Republican Party will control Congress?
Prior to it becoming law, 50 million people in the United States did not have health insurance, and health care costs were increasing...

Monday is the last day to sign up for insurance under both the Affordable Care Act and the state's Healthy PA program for coverage that starts Jan. 1.
The second open enrollment period under the federal health care law, often called Obamacare, started on...

— As Gov.-elect Tom Wolf builds his team in Harrisburg, he's also got his eye on building relationships in that other capital city.He was among a small group of incoming governors who spent Friday at the White House, meeting with President Barack Obama,...

It may be an auspicious start to Tom Wolf leading our state, for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents could have expansion of Medicaid (unlike our present governor who opts for cost-sharing and limiting benefits for the impoverished).
An elected...